THE TANAGLIA LACTANTIUS

MS 1369
MS Short Title THE TANAGLIA LACTANTIUS
Text LUCIUS CAELIUS LACTANTIUS: DIVINARUM INSTITUTIONUM ADVERSUS GENTES
Description MS in Latin and Greek on vellum, Firenze, Italy, ca. 1420-30, 125 ff. (-1), 32x23 cm, single column, (23x14 cm) 32-33 lines in a very fine early humanistic book script and Greek minuscule by Guglielmino Tanaglia, possibly Niccolo Niccoli and an unidentified scribe, 3 small illuminated initials, 6 very large illuminated white-vine initials and including 3/4 border on title leaf with a leopard, birds and butterflies by Filippo di Matteo Torelli.
Binding Firenze, Italy, ca. 1430, blind-stamped goatskin over wooden boards, sewn on 5 double thongs.
Context The missing leaf, f. 77, illuminated, with text and notes by Tanaglia, illustrated in Zisska & Kistner, München, 20.5.1996:537, now in the Stephen Cooper collection, Dorset.
Provenance 1. Guglielmino Tanaglia, Firenze (ca. 1425-1460); 2. Vespasiano da Bisticci, (1460-1468); 3. Bertram, 4th Earl of Ashburnham (1797-1878), A Catalogue of the Manuscripts at Ashburnham Place, 1853, Appendix :76; 4. Henry Yates Thompson, London (1897- 1900/1910); 5. George Dunn, Woolley Hall, Maidenhead (ca. 1900/1910-1913); 6. Sotheby's 11.2.1913:552; 7. Victor von Klemperer, Dresden (1913-1942) and his descendants (1942-1991); 8. Sotheby's 18.6.1991:80.
Commentary Written for and mostly by Guglielmino Tanaglia (1391-1460), protohumanist, scholar and friend of Giovanni F. Poggio and Niccolo Niccoli. He was writing humanistic script as early as 1410. This is by far his most substantial extant MS.

Lucius Caelius Lactantius (245-315) stands half way between the classics and the church fathers. His main work is the summa of Christian thought, demonstrating the falsehood of pagan religion, setting forth the true doctrine and worship. It is dedicated to emperor Constantine the Great and is a primary text for the history of Neoplatonism. Besides patristic and biblical sources, 68 different classical authors are quoted.
Exhibited 1. Conference of European National Librarians, Oslo. Sept. 1994. 2. The Bibliophile Society of Norway's 75th anniversary. Bibliofilklubben 75 år. Jubileumsutstilling Bok og Samler, Universitetsbliblioteket 27.2 - 26.4.1997
Place of origin Italy
Dates ca 1420 - 1430 AD